featuring guest authors; crafting tips and projects; recipes from food editor and sleuthing sidekick Cloris McWerther; and decorating, travel, fashion, health, beauty, and finance tips from the rest of the American Woman editors.

Tuesday, March 31, 2015

#COOKING WITH CLORIS--GRANDMA'S HOMEMADE #BROWNIES

According to Holidays-and-Observances.com, March is Berries and Cherries Month. Those of you who follow this blog or have
read any of the Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mysteries know how much I enjoy
combining chocolate with berries and cherries (and how much Anastasia loves eating them!) So today I’m featuring a recipe
for Grandma’s Homemade Brownies. Not my grandma, though. The recipe comes from
author Susan Lohrerand is featured in in Bake, Love, Write: 105 Authors Share Dessert Recipes and Advice on Love and Writing. In the original recipe you can use chopped nuts, raisins, or
cherries. Of course, I’m going with the cherry version. And Susan suggests for
a lower-calorie version of this recipe, you can substitute applesauce for half
the cooking oil, but I suggest simply cutting the brownies into tiny portions.

Grandma’s
Homemade Brownies

Ingredients:

1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

2 cups sugar

1/2 cup cocoa

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 cup vegetable oil

4 eggs

1/4 cup cool water

1/2 cup (or more) dried cherries

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Place all ingredients in bowl in order given and beat
on low speed until just mixed. Pour batter into prepared 9” x13” pan.

Bake for 30 minutes or until toothpick inserted in
brownies comes out clean.

Bake, Love, Write:

105 Authors Share Dessert
Recipes and Advice on Love and Writing

What do
most authors have in common, no matter what genre they write? They love
desserts. Sweets sustain them through pending deadlines and take the sting out
of crushing rejection letters and nasty reviews. They also often celebrate
their successes—selling a book, winning a writing award, making a bestseller
list, or receiving a fabulous review—with decadent indulgences. And when
authors chat with each other, they often talk about their writing and their
lives. Recipes. Writing. Relationships. In this cookbook 105 authors not only
share their favorite recipes for fabulous cakes, pies, cookies, candy, and
more, they also share the best advice they’ve ever received on love and
writing.

Newsletter

Keep up with Lois and Anastasia by subscribing to author Lois Winston's newsletter where you'll find special features, contests, and giveaways available only to subscribers.

SCRAPBOOK OF MURDER

An Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery, Book 6

SLEUTHING WOMEN II: 10 MYSTERY NOVELLAS

LITERALLY DEAD: an Empty Nest Mystery, Book 2

SLEUTHING WOMEN: 10 FIRST-IN-SERIES MYSTERIES

A collection of 10 full-length mysteries featuring murder and assorted mayhem, each the first book in an established multi-book series

A STITCH TO DIE FOR

Book 5 in the Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery series

MOM SQUAD: a Shadow Ops Novella

WE'D RATHER BE WRITING

BAKE, LOVE, WRITE

DEFINITELY DEAD

An Empty Nest Mystery, Book 1

CRAFTY CRIMES

a Trio of Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mini-Mysteries

PATCHWORK PERIL

An Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mini-Mystery

DECOUPAGE CAN BE DEADLY

MOSAIC MAYHEM

An Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mini-Mystery

REVENGE OF THE CRAFTY CORPSE

CREWEL INTENTIONS

an Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mini-Mystery

DEATH BY KILLER MOP DOLL

ASSAULT WITH A DEADLY GLUE GUN

THE ANASTASIA POLLACK CRAFTING MYSTERIES

Read about Anastasia in the Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery seriesby Lois Winston. Assault With a Deadly Glue Gun, the first book in the series, received starred reviews from Publishers Weekly and Booklist. Kirkus Reviews called it "North Jersey's more mature answer to Stephanie Plum." Assault With a Deadly Glue Gunwas also a Book of the Year Award nominee from ForeWord Reviews, a Daphne du Maurier Award finalist, and a Readers Choice Award nominee from the Salt Lake City Library System. Other books in the series include Death by Killer Mop Doll, Revenge of the Crafty Corpse, Decoupage Can Be Deadly, A Stitch to Die For, and Scrapbook of Murder, plus three mini-mysteries: Crewel Intentions,Mosaic Mayhem, and Patchwork Peril. Look for more of Anastasia's adventures coming in the future.

About Me

I'm the crafts editor at American Woman magazine; the single parent of two teenage boys and a Shakespeare quoting parrot; caretaker to a semi-invalid, communist mother-in-law from Hell and her demon dog; daughter to a multi-married descendant of the Czars (supposedly); reluctant cat-sitter to Mama's extremely corpulent white Persian cat; a born Jersey girl; and star of my own amateur sleuth mystery series.